460 Mr. W. Clark on the Conovulids, 



convert the undeserved neglect of this rare object into an imperish- 

 able renown, by giving it, for a specific appellation, the name of 

 a lady at Exmouth, who has devoted her leisure to the cultivation 

 of natural history, and by her illustrations and discoveries in the 

 dei)artments of algology and conchology has done much to pro- 

 mote the advancement of science. J\Iay more of our fair country- 

 women follow her example ! These pursuits not only delight and 

 adorn their votaries, but they add new facts and new discoveries 

 to our stock; it is only by the exertions of the many, distributed 

 over the face of the land, that novelties are brought to our know- 

 ledge. The hai'vest is not yet gathered in, and the lady who 

 discovers a new species gains an immortality co-extensive with 

 the existing order of nature. I refrain to add to this simple 

 acknowledgement of rare merit, lest I should invade those re- 

 tiring sensibilities, which are always the concomitants of true 

 science. 



This elegant shell, of five and a half rather tumid volutions, 

 has much the contour of some of the subelongated species. I have 

 little doubt that it is a true Chemnitzia ; it is therein deposited 

 until the knowledge of the animal shall determine its position. 

 I invite naturalists sedulously to search for it. It is a rare spe- 

 cies : I possess three perfect specimens. The characteristic ob- 

 tuse, yet reflected apex, has induced me to place it amongst its 

 congeners of similar apical configuration, which is almost pecu- 

 liar to the Pi/ramidellida. I believe that lanthina is the only other 

 genus that has something of a similar structure, but in it the 

 apex presents rather a distorted irregularity than a true reflexion ; 

 but whether this is so or not, the connecting characters between 

 lanthina and Chemnitzia are of little value. 



Having concluded the notes on the Chemnitzia, I have only to 

 remark on the singular sameness of the descriptions ; indeed it is 

 difficult to divest oneself of the idea that all of them appertain 

 to the same animal. I may have generalized at the expense of 

 destroying the identity of each species, by omitting the delicate 

 particular variations, by which alone objects so similar can be 

 distinguished malacologically, especially by the young student. 



The Rev. T. Lowe, in the 6th vol. p. 511, Old Series, of the 

 ' Annals of Natural History,^ appears, in constituting the cha- 

 racters of his Parthenia, our Chemnitzia, only to have had the 

 corroborating aid of a single congeneric species, the Turbo uni- 

 dentatus of Montagu, from which he anticipitated the possibility 

 that future investigations would require some modification of the 

 characters to render the genus more inclusive. The present 

 notes of many additional species of this tribe may perhaps sup- 

 ply the elements of a slight alteration in his diagnoses, which are 

 so very correct as to embrace the whole tribe; indeed the only 



